Inventions: 70 Years That Changed the World, 1845–1915 [Slide Show]

High-Volume Printing Press: Johannes Gutenberg’s 15th-century printing press produced six pages a day. Richard Hoe’s giant press in the 1850s, using rolls of cheap paper several miles long, churned out 20,000 newspaper pages an hour for an information-hungry world. Credits: Scientific American

Inventions: 70 Years That Changed the World, 1845–1915 [Slide Show]

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High-Volume Printing Press: Johannes Gutenberg's 15th-century printing press produced six pages a day. Richard Hoe's giant press in the 1850s, using rolls of cheap paper several miles long, churned out 20,000 newspaper pages an hour for an information-hungry world. Credit: Scientific American, June 5, 1915

It's About People: This may be the first photograph ever taken of a human face: Miss Dorothy Catherine Draper, taken by her brother John William Draper in 1840 (or perhaps 1839). Credit: Scientific American, June 5, 1915

Thinking Machine: This device by S. Bent Russell is one of many machines that can manipulate information using various mathematical and logical theories. Perhaps it is more of a paving stone than a milestone on the path to the modern computer. Credit: Scientific American, September 18, 1915

Steel, Backbone of Modernity: Henry Bessemer patented his method in 1856 for cheaply transforming low-quality brittle pig iron into strong steel. The system built around the Bessemer converter is still at the heart of steel production today. Credit: Scientific American Supplement, December 14, 1918

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Connecting the World: Advances in metallurgy and civil engineering within a burgeoning economy helped usher in the era of big construction, linking communities by bridge, road and railroad. Credit: Scientific American, June 5, 1915

The Elevator City: The elevator safety device patented by Elisha Graves Otis, coupled with some adroit marketing, made the elevator safe, popular and widespread. The comparison view shows the Manhattan skyline before the elevator and after. Credit: Scientific American, June 5, 1915

Writing Mechanized: A typewriter helps people communicate more efficiently across space and time. Even with this early version of a typewriter invented by Alfred Ely Beach in 1856. These days the computer and printer fulfill the same function. Credit: Scientific American, June 5, 1915

Edison: A wealth of ideas and a lifetime of acheivement. Thomas Alva Edison symbolizes the prime ingredient in inventions, the person toiling to perfect them: “genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” Credit: Scientific American, June 5, 1915

Turbines Power the World: Charles Parsons (inset photo) first developed his turbine in 1884. By 1915 turbines such as the ones in this image generated most of the electricity in power stations—and they still do 100 years later. Most people never see such machines but they have an outsize influence on our daily life. Credit: Scientific American, June 5, 1915

Alien Environments: Mankind has been able to develop many forms of protection to extend the ability to survive in environments that are hostile: space, under the sea, places that are chemically dangerous. These fire respirators from 1915 are instantly recognizable as one kind of such protection.Credit: Scientific American, March 27, 1915

Supercold Physics: Heike Kammerlingh Onnes in his laboratory, 1915. Onnes discovered the phenomenon of superconductivity in 1911. His work is one of the triumphs of physics in pushing the boundary of theoretical and applied knowledge. Credit: Scientific American, February 13

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The Automobile: The landscape of the world has been changed by cars and the industries and infrastructure built around them. Charles and Frank Duryea built the first gasoline-powered road car in the United States. Here, Frank driving their second model car. Credit: Scientific American, June 5, 1915

First Successful Airplane: The Langley “Aerodrome No. 5” flew 3,300 feet on May 6, 1896. It was an unpiloted model with a wingspan of 14 feet, powered by a steam engine. Seven years later the Wright brothers first successfully piloted a full-sized airplane in free flight. Credit: Scientific American Supplement, November 29, 1902

Entertain Us!: The Victrola was hand-cranked and played records acoustically (not elecronically). The Victor Talking Machines company signed stars such as Enrico Caruso. Our entertainment technology has much improved, although some would argue our talent has not. Credit: Scientific American, December 4, 1915

Survival: Our technology can be perilous. Fortunately, technnology rescues us as well. Mr. Traugott Beek of Newark devised and patented in 1877 what may be the first ever “survival suit” for those who are shipwrecked or immersed in frigid waters. Credit: Scientific American, May 5, 1877

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